The Right To Read Boca Raton Library`s Literacy Program Is Getting Bigger.

March 9, 1993|By SARAH RAGLAND, Staff Writer

BOCA RATON -- Anna Rivera grew weary of worrying what the signs said on the doors outside public restrooms: Is this the one for women or men?

She grew weary of always ordering what companions ordered when she went out to eat because she couldn`t understand menus.

But most of all, she grew weary of hiding the fact that a learning disability kept her reading skills at the second-grade level, even though she has a high school diploma.

Rivera, 32, of Boca Raton, has stopped worrying and started reading with a little help from a computer and voice synthesizer -- and a lot of help from tutors with Boca Raton Public Library`s literacy program.

The Friends of the Library launched the library`s literacy program in 1990 after hearing that residents wanted and needed tutors to help them learn to read and write.

The program, operating on a tiny budget and in cramped quarters, has since trained 78 tutors and helped 52 students, said Joan Mueller, the director of the program.

And now as tight budgets threaten to squeeze money from adult education programs across the county, the library`s program is expanding, if modestly.

Thanks to grants from IBM and Target Stores, and the support of the library, the program has added computer-based training and soon will move from a crowded corner in a staff room to a new literacy center on the library`s second floor.

Darlene Kostrub, the director of the Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition, said that the program is helping make a small dent in a large problem.

``There are probably 70,000 adults in Palm Beach County who are functionally illiterate,`` she said. ``Maybe 15 to 30 percent of the people who need help are receiving it.``

Rivera, who has been in the program since she moved to Boca Raton two years ago, said that learning to read as an adult is hard and frustrating, but the other option -- not reading -- is worse.

``It does a lot to your self-esteem and how you feel about yourself,`` she said of her struggles with reading.

``But just because you have a problem with something doesn`t mean you`re dumb.``

Like other adults who have problems with reading, Rivera has always managed to get by.

But as she grew older, Rivera said she got tired of the small and large hassles -- not being able to use an automated banking machine and constant fears that she would lose her job -- that come with just getting by.

For three hours each day and five hours at the library during twice weekly sessions with a tutor, Rivera works on reading.

And, these days she carries around some hefty evidence that the work is paying off: Belva Plain`s novel Evergreen, all 588 pages of it.

``I`m halfway through,`` she said, adding with a laugh, ``Another half year to go.``